Corneria University: Year Two
by SilfurLycan
Summary: Second part to Corneria University. Wolf and Kyber have made it through the first year, but what happens when everything starts heading south? Will the two be able to stick together, or will the tension tear them apart? Still not Great at summaries... Rated M for Language, Violence, and during later chapters, Sexual content.
1. Chapter 1

**IF YOU HAVEN'T READ CORNERIA UNIVERSITY GO BACK AND READ IT! For those of you who have however..  
**  
**A/N: Hello everyone, welcome to part two of Corneria University, following the characters into their second year as they continue their adventures. I hope you all enjoy this story! Although I want to give a warning...Please do NOT try and follow the "timeline" This being an AU I really don't use any sort of Timeline from the actual games, however it's more of some parts here, some there in all honesty. I'm hoping it all turns out well and a few chapters are already written. Still kinda nervous about things here on the site... Disclaimer: I Don't own Starfox, The ONLY thing I own are my own OCs. Enjoy!**

"_Hey, I know I saw you a few days ago…But I think I know who you're looking for."_

**Chapter 1**

**Kyber**

'Why?' It was the one thought that resounded through my mind as I practically tore down the hallways towards my dorm room. 'Why did this have to happen? Why did I have to be the unlucky one? Why did I have to be the freak? WHY?!' The answers all led to one thing, that one event many years ago. I shook my head hard as I continued barreling down the halls, glad that they were vacant, aside from the white tigress that trailed a few feet behind. I was hoping for a chance for everything to be normal for once. Normal, the word tormented me; it was the one thing I could never hope to be. Among my mental line of questioning a rather large question loomed before me… How the hell would I explain all this to Wolf?

**Wolf**

It had been a few days since summer break had ended and the school campus was slowly coming back to life. Within a few more days classes would be starting up again. I glanced around the dorm room I was in, still the same simple style, same boring colors. The only thing different about it was that the room was more spacious than the previous year. I had already unpacked and settled in, along with my roommate Kyber. I was overjoyed to see the black lupine again after summer break. I hadn't seen him at all over break, both of us being kept busy although we had spoken quite often on the phone. I was sitting on the bed awaiting the very person that was on my mind as we, along with Lorelei, Leroi, and Ember, had all agreed to try and plan out what we would do this year. I was startled from my thoughts as the door practically flew open, hastily admitting the one I was looking forward to see, accompanied by Lorelei. However instead of saying "hello", or even acknowledging my existence for that matter, Kyber was frantically repacking everything he had already set out as Lorelei assisted in the matter.

"Well hello to you too." I said sarcastically. Kyber stopped what he was doing and looked over.

"Hey…Sorry…" He said somewhat sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

"Mind telling me what the hell you think you're doing?" I folded my arms across my chest staring at the black lupine in front of me, who seemed to be trying to think of an explanation. After a few moments of silence I raised an eyebrow.

"Well?" Lorelei continued packing as Kyber opened and closed his mouth a few times, seeming quite frustrated.

"Wolf…I don't know how to tell you this…" He began, and instantly every fiber of my being was alert, waiting to hear what he had to say. The entire room seemed to still, even Lorelei stopped moving as Kyber took a deep breath to continue.

"Wolf…I'm leaving…" He said in a soft voice.

"WHAT? WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE LEAVING?" The words exploded from my mouth as I sprang from the bed. Kyber flinched and recoiled back and was about to say something before Lorelei interjected.

"Corneria University is no longer a safe place for Kyber, we have to get him out of here while there is still time." She said calmly, as if explaining something to a child.

"No one is going anywhere until I know what is going on and why." I said stubbornly, now standing in front of the doorway to the room, barring anyone from exiting. Kyber sighed heavily.

"Leroi overheard someone talking. They were talking about the attack last year and then brought me up. Leroi doesn't know if they were talking to the authorities or someone else but I have to go. Right now he is speaking with the headmaster to transfer Ember, Lorelei, himself and me to online independent studies while I was told to get packing as quickly as possible."

"If you're going, then I'm going too."

"Wolf please-"He started.

"NO! I am sick and tired of losing you and thinking I'm never going to see you again! Over the entirety of summer break I worried that you wouldn't be returning, I REFUSE to let you leave me again." I had made my decision and was not backing down. I knew that if Kyber left this time, it would have been for good, because he could never return. Every single time I finally think that nothing would keep us apart something tries to wedge itself between us; It had happened quite a few times last year. First with Fox, then with "The Director", and finally, with the headmaster and I'd be damned if I let it happen again.

"Wolf…Please…Try to understand…It could be very dangerous and…I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt because of me…" Kyber looked down, seeming well on the verge of breaking down.

"Kyber, I'm going, and there is nothing you can say that will make me say otherwise." I dug my heels in; this was one argument I was not going to lose. With another sigh Kyber finally, slowly nodded his head.

"Alright…But hurry up…" Lorelei was already on her phone talking to Leroi about including me into their plans. I moved from the door, happy that I'd won and was able to stay with the lupine I cared for so much. I made sure to pack quickly and the room was just as barren as it was before the two arrived in only a few minutes.

**Kyber**

Finally making it to my dorm I wasted no time in getting in and starting to gather everything. Not even noticing the gray lupine sitting on the bed, watching as the events unfolded.

"Well hello to you too." Came a sarcastic reply a few feet away. I froze and looked over, finally taking note of Wolf on the bed.

"Hey…Sorry…" I said, embarrassed about the fact that I hadn't even noticed Wolf as I scratched the back of my head.

"Mind telling me what the hell you think you're doing?" He folded his arms across his chest staring at me as I tried desperately to think of an explanation. After a few moments of silence he raised an eyebrow.

"Well?" Lorelei continued packing as I opened and closed my mouth a few times, frustration building as the words I wanted to say refused to come forth.

"Wolf…I don't know how to tell you this…" I began, and instantly the entire room seemed to still, even Lorelei stopped moving as I took a deep breath to continue, trying to find the courage to say what had to be said.

"Wolf…I'm leaving…" I could hardly bring myself to say the words.

"WHAT? WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE LEAVING?" I flinched and recoiled back from the sudden explosion of fury from Wolf and was about to say something before Lorelei interjected.

"Corneria University is no longer a safe place for Kyber, we have to get him out of here while there is still time." She said calmly. I was relieved that at least someone could remain calm, at least outwardly, in this situation.

"No one is going anywhere until I know what is going on and why." He said stubbornly, now standing in front of the doorway to the room, barring anyone from exiting. I sighed heavily, this was something I was hoping to avoid..

"Leroi overheard someone talking. they were talking about the attack last year and then brought me up. Leroi doesn't know if they were talking to the authorities or someone else but I have to go. Right now he is speaking with the headmaster to transfer Ember, Lorelei, himself and me to online independent studies while I was told to get packing as quickly as possible."

"If you're going, then I'm going too."

"Wolf please-" I started; it was hard enough saying I was leaving, I didn't want to argue about needing Wolf to stay.

"NO! I am sick and tired of losing you and thinking I'm never going to see you again! Over the entirety of summer break I worried that you wouldn't be returning, I REFUSE to let you leave me again."

"Wolf…Please…Try to understand…It could be very dangerous and…I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt because of me…" I looked down, my eyes becoming moist as I fought back tears that threatened to spill. It broke my heart that I had to fight for us to be separated, but it was the only way to keep Wolf safe. They'd be looking for me, not him. Once he'd nearly gotten hurt because of me, and another time he was almost killed. I wanted to keep Wolf as far from conflict as possible.

"Kyber, I'm going, and there is nothing you can say that will make me say otherwise." With another sigh I finally, slowly nodded my head. I should have known he wouldn't have let up on the subject, and probably would have followed us anyway. Inwardly though, I smiled as I thought that here was one person I wasn't going to lose so easily.

"Alright…But hurry up.." Lorelei was already on her phone talking to Leroi about including Wolf into our plans. Wolf seemed to waste no time packing and soon the room was back to how it was before we even arrived. I couldn't shake the lingering worry about what would happen, but it was too late to turn back now.

**Leroi**

I sighed softly as I ran a paw through my small golden mane, thinking of the best way to deal with the headmaster. My shoes clipped quietly on the floor as I strode to his office, a lot was riding on this and I would use whatever card I had to play to make sure it all went through. I paused when I got to the right door and knocked before entering. The headmaster sat at his desk looking through a few papers. When the door shut behind me, he looked up.

"Leroi Depure? Is something the matter?" The hare held a curious gaze behind his spectacles. I wasn't sure how to approach the subject…My friends life was possibly on the line for Christ's sake. I took a breath as I thought of how to approach the subject, deciding on taking the professional, businesslike route.

"Sir, I would like to request the transfer of Lorelei Cefire, Ember Ashuno, Kyber Osiria and myself to the school's Online Independent studies course." Keeping my voice even, keeping any strain from the situation out of my voice.

"What? What reason could you possibly have request the transfer of _all_ of you to the school's online option?"

I mentally sighed however expected my motives to be questioned, in an attempt to stay one step ahead of the headmaster's line of thinking, just like a business deal.

"We all wanted the option to explore the world freely, yet still obtain our education. As I recall Corneria University made its mission to help as many people attain a higher education in whatever field they wished to pursue in its own attempts at making the Lylat system a better place."

"Well yes, however I don't see what that has to do with the four of you leaving the school…"

"Think of it this way, thousands of people from across the Lylat system apply for this school in the hopes of attending a first rate college determined to help them achieve their goals. With the four of us switching, there becomes an opening of positions at the school, allowing more people to not only add funding to the school, yet earn exceedingly valuable experience about the field of their desires, giving the whole Lylat system another citizen who can give all they have for their planet and for others." The tactic was simple, identify the desire of the "target" in this case it would be the want to help others succeed, and allow your course of action to present itself in the most beneficial way possible.

"Well…When you put it that way…" The headmaster showed understanding, yet was not completely sold on the idea of letting us switch. I couldn't blame him, I knew the policy on the online independent studies as much as he did, Online students did not have to pay as much as students who physically attended, but came with the tradeoff of being required to learn and comprehend everything yourself and robbed a person of invaluable experiences and options to develop.

"If we are allowed to proceed with the designated course of action, I will speak to my family about increasing their funding to the school as a token of thanks for allowing us the ability to branch off and explore the world while still getting one of the best educations available in the system." That certainly caught the headmaster's attention. Inwardly I smiled, mission accomplished.

The headmaster sighed, deliberately seeming hesitant about the decision, yet I knew it was all an act. The headmaster had a good heart, but was not going to turn down more money when it was offered to him. "You'll need to fill out a contract stating that you will keep your end of the bargain if I allow you four to do this."

"Certainly sir, I wouldn't dare ruin the Depure family reputation on something like this." That was the truth, his family was well known and he had to be careful about how he used their influence he made a vow to never use it haphazardly, only when deemed necessary.

"Alright then, while you fill out the needed paperwork, I will work on making the contract." With that the headmaster handed me a small stack of papers and a clipboard to write on. I took the papers and quickly got to work. When I was almost done my phone rang. I looked to see who it was, it was Lorelei.

"Yes?" I inquired, wondering what she could have thought important enough to call and possibly ruin the negotiations if they were still going on.

"Hey, add Wolf to our little scheme; he wants in and refuses to let us leave until we do."

"Certainly." With that I hung up, It was only natural that the gray lupine would want to come with, he was in a relationship with Kyber after all.

"Sir, it looks like I'll need one more transfer request form, for Wolf O Donnell." The headmaster simply gave yet another form and continued writing up the contract. When the paperwork was all filled out I handed it back to the headmaster, who filed it away on his computer and handed me the contract. I took a look at it reading it over before signing. There was no hidden agenda, no fine print to the contract, and for that I was thankful.

"Thank you sir." I bowed formally to the headmaster. "You should receive a letter from my family within a few days." With that, I exited the room, allowing a small grin of satisfaction to reach my features as I went to meet up with Kyber and the others.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:Hey all, and welcome to Chapter two! I'm trying to figure out when I should do updates and all...but I'm not sure. Perhaps some suggestions later on? Although this is only chapter two I know this story is going to be longer than the first year! Hope you all enjoy, I couldn't help but laugh as I wrote this chapter.**

**Rather obvious disclaimer: I don't own Starfox, only my OC's**

Chapter 2

**Kyber**

Once everything was packed I donned my white hoodie that I had kept the year previously. My nerves were on edge although I did my best to appear calm. The three of us left the dorm with Wolf and my belongings, heading out to the school parking lot. Strangely, Wolf didn't seem as freaked out about this as I was, as though we were all just heading out to visit someone. Lorelei led the way as we neared the lot; two figures stood waiting for them. One was dressed in a familiar red cloak while the other was dressed rather formally, as if leaving for a business trip. I quickly recognized the two as Ember and Leroi, two very close friends of mine.

"Wolf, you still have your car, right?" The question came from Lorelei as she didn't slow down.

"Yeah, it's here in the lot; why?" Wolf sounded somewhat confused. Lorelei ignored the question, tossing her keys to Ember, who caught them without a problem.

"What about the Wolfen?"

"It's in one of the school hangars."

"Ember, you know what to do, take Kyber along the back roads." The young hound nodded, quickly walking to the tigress' own car; I quickly followed. Wolf made to follow me but was stopped by Lorelei. "You're not going with him"

"And why the hell not?" Wolf cried out, ready to throw a fit. I didn't hear more as I put my stuff in Lorelei's car and got in the passenger side, putting my hood up as Ember got in the driver's seat and quickly took off. The city passed by as the two of us sat in silence for a while before a call broke said void.

**Wolf**

As we left I found myself not caring that none of this seemed normal, I was with Kyber and that's what mattered. As we neared the parking lot I noticed two familiar figures, wondering just what their plans were, since I was never informed. I was interrupted from my thoughts by Lorelei.

"Wolf, you still have your car, right?"

"Yeah, it's here in the lot; why?" I was confused with what my car had to do with any of this. Lorelei ignored the question, much to my annoyance, and tossed her keys to Ember, who caught them without a problem.

"What about the Wolfen?"

"It's in one of the school hangars." The line of questions didn't make sense to me, but I figured I wouldn't be told anyway. I was proven right when Lorelei kept speaking.

"Ember, you know what to do, take Kyber along the back roads." The Ember nodded, quickly walking to the tigress' own car, Kyber walking a few feet behind. I went to go follow the two of them but my progress was halted by a certain white tigress. "You're not going with him"

"And why the hell not?" It took a lot of control not to start throwing a fit like a five year old. Kyber was already out of sight and I heard a car speed off from somewhere.

"We can't have everyone traveling in the same car, and it wouldn't make sense to leave yours here. Leroi will be coming with you in your car to make sure you both get where you need to be, you both will be taking the main roads." Lorelei said simply, bit by bit informing me of what was going on.

"What about you?" Noticing she seemed to have left herself out.

"Yeaaaaah…About that…Gimme the keys to your wolfen." She said.

"WHAT? No way! You'll damage it!" holding the keys close to my body, only one person was allowed to fly it and that was me.

"Wolf, either give me the keys, or I will leave you here . I promise no harm will befall your Wolfen and I will take care of it as though it were my own future child." Her voice left no room for argument, however…

"But.." Lorelei was really twisting my arm here…My Wolfen was the only thing I debatably took _more _care of than Kyber. 'This shouldn't even _need_ to be a choice..' I thought to myself

'_Well on the other hand you could always stay here and be with Fox…'_ There just _had_ to be that one side who loved playing the devil's advocate… With a sigh I reluctantly gave her the keys to my Wolfen.

"Thank you." She said "Besides, where we're going you'd need clearance to get near the house, which is why Leroi is going with you, and I'm taking the Wolfen. I wouldn't want you to have to leave something behind." I kept my mouth shut, not trusting the words to be kind rather than threatening. As grateful as I was that they were even letting me in on what they were doing I was now worried about what would happen to my Wolfen, the one thing I put almost all my time and effort into over the summer trying to get it ready for the new year.

Lorelei quickly bounded off towards the hangars as we strode over to my car. I tossed Leroi the keys and he gave me a confused look but got in the driver's side anyway. I didn't trust myself to be able to think straight… Within moments we were off, traveling down the main roads of Corneria City, a call patched in from the Wolfen.

"Hey guys, no trouble here…I'll be waiting for you guys when you get to your destination, everything should be ready by then." Leroi just nodded softly while a widespread grin danced across Lorelei's features. "Wolf you have got to let me fly this thing some more later!"

"You're flying it now, that's enough time."

"Aww you're no fun!" She pretended to pout for a little bit before going back to her normal self. "The drive may take a while, so why don't you try calling your "chew toy"?" She playfully suggested. My face went a deep scarlet as I started sputtering in embarrassment. Leroi seemed to be suppressing a snicker as a ghost of a smile touched his features. Before I could reply Lorelei had cut the transmission.

"Chew toy?" Leroi asked, there was no possible way to disguise the amusement in his voice.

"Fuck you…" I mumbled, crossing my arms, my face still crimson as I tried to regain myself.

"I'm sure you'd love to, but I'm afraid Kyber's your boyfriend, not me." He quickly countered, clearly enjoying the fact that I was thrown off by the "nickname" that they seemed to have assigned Kyber. I gave a small growl in annoyance and that ended to conversation for a little bit. As we drove on more of the city passed us by. At the moment we were stopped at a red light waiting for it to turn green. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Leroi hit a button, it was the call function that was put into every car that allowed for hands free communication. It rang a few times before the other end picked up.

"Hello?" I recognized the voice immediately; it was Ember's.

"Hey, we're on our way; almost there, in fact. What about you guys?" Leroi stated, making casual conversation.

"Taking us a bit longer but we shouldn't be too long…Hold on let me turn on the video feed." After a few moments a small holographic image appeared before us. Kyber was sitting back in his seat, his muzzle the only thing really visible in terms of his face. The light turned green at that moment and Leroi continued to drive, while during the rest of the way I got a few questions answered. I was told that we were heading to Lorelei's father's house and that he would be more than happy to let us all stay. I had also found out that the house was where Kyber had stayed over the summer, and that it was one of the absolute safest places for him to be.

A few moments later and we had finally arrived at our destination, just passing the gates that led to the house. I saw Lorelei's car already waiting yet no sign of the Wolfen and wondered where it may be. Trying to push the thought aside I tried to take in the details of the house. It seemed fairly unordinary, a few windows with the curtains drawn to keep the light, and prying eyes, out. The walls were a pristine white that nearly shone in the sunlight. A small flight of stairs led to an arched doorway with wide metallic double doors. Not much gave off the fact that this house belonged to someone of the upper class, the house even looked to be only one story, and not even large enough to host all of them. When the car came to a stop I got out and quickly grabbed my stuff before heading over to Kyber who finally took down his hood and flashed a small smile at me.

"Ready to see the inside?" He inquired, his tone sounded as though I'd be fairly impressed but I wasn't too sure.

"I guess so." I shrugged. With that Kyber led me inside, the rooms were Spartan at best, void of most furniture.

"Okay, just what are you trying to pull here?" I asked, suddenly seeming to find myself on the receiving end of some big joke.

"Just be patient and follow me." Kyber replied as he continued to drag me around the house. Leroi and Ember accompanied us once we wound up in a rather spacious room filled with bookcases, appearing to be someone's private study.

"You sure we should be in here?" I asked sounding unsure.

"Of course, don't worry." Kyber immediately wandered over to the books, pulling certain ones off the shelves and placing them back. I began to wonder just what he was doing when two of the bookcases started to move, pushing outward and then sliding to the side, revealing a hidden passageway. I didn't have much time to wonder what was down there as I was once again dragged by my black lupine lover. Once the four of us were descending a flight of hidden stairs I heard a small click, presumably the bookcases sliding themselves back into place. A dull green light illuminated the stairway as we walked, providing just enough light to see. Once we reached the bottom I couldn't believe what I saw. We were in a large spacious room that appeared to be an underground living room. The walls were made of some sort of metal, along with the flooring; White lights pulsed underfoot and overhead, illuminating the room, revealing a room with a rather long U shaped couch, an ornate glass coffee table that sat on a rug which all sat before a rather large screen T.V, the kind you might see in a high tech briefing room. I was pulled from my fascination by the sound of footsteps coming from a hallway. It was revealed to be Lorelei, along with an older looking orange tiger behind her.

"Hey guys, glad to see you could make it." She beamed.

"Yes, so nice of you all to come. Your rooms should all be ready for you." The older tiger said behind her. "Oh where are my manners? Lorelei dear, would you be so kind as to introduce me to your new friend?" He asked, pointing a clawed finger towards me.

"Dad, this is Wolf O' Donnell." She said, introducing me.

"Ahh, so you're the famous "Wolf" I've been hearing so much about." His words caused Kyber to look away slightly as his tone was slightly amused.

"Wolf, this is my father, Professor Isaac Cefire." Taking a look at her father, I noticed that although he looked to be in his 50's. His body, from what wasn't hidden, revealed rather muscular limbs. His black hair was swept back, aside from a small section that seemed to angle outward and back over one of his amber eyes.

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"Oh no, it's a great pleasure to meet the one who's put a smile on Kyber's face. I look at him as though he were my own son, and so it warms my heart that he's found someone such as yourself," He said with an easy smile.

"Kyber, why don't you show Wolf around?" Kyber nodded and I set my stuff down before allowing myself to be shown around.

**Kyber**

I was glad to have Wolf finally show up at the house and was excited to show him around. Professor Isaac…or "Dad" as I sometimes called him, depending on the mood I was in, seemed to have taken a liking to Wolf, which was a good thing. I smiled as I showed Wolf around the house. The house before was somewhat of a distraction, to keep away prying eyes. The _real_ house was underground by the secret passage we had taken. It took a little while to briefly show Wolf most of the house, I could show him in detail tomorrow. I showed him the kitchen, rec room, "Dad's" laboratory, the training room, the underground hangars, where wolf seemed to become very relaxed after seeing his Wolfen sitting peacefully next to a silver and gold jet fighter. After a while we had finally gotten around to the bedrooms, indicating Lorelei's, Isaac's, Leroi's, Ember's and then finally my room.

"Where am I sleeping?" Wolf asked, his tone indicating that he was not entirely aware if he were staying with me or not as we stepped into my room.

"With Kyber of course." Lorelei's voice could be heard from the doorway "Why wouldn't we let you sleep with your chew toy?" She grinned and now it was my turn to go scarlet as I tried to find interest in anything around the room, embarrassment radiating from my being.

"Anyway." She continued, "The rooms are completely sound proof, no one can hear what is going on from above or below, or from the next room over that is. The house also has a signal jammer, which hides us from scanners so long as we stay down here and don't go up to the top house. Each of the rooms _can_ however hear and see what is going on above so long as you tell dad's home system to do so. You both will be sharing a bathroom, though I don't think that will be a problem. As for clothes, well, you have your own but if you ever need more, Kyber has plenty here that you can borrow." She said with a grin "Oh, before I forget, give me your phones." Kyber handed his over without hesitation, I did the same. "Sorry, Kyber knows the rules; we'll be replacing these with ones that can't be tracked and pre-program all of our numbers into them. But I'll leave you two alone now." And with that the tigress sauntered off.

I gave a small sigh and looked at the time on the clock perched on the nightstand by my bed. I hadn't expected it to be so late. I took off my shoes, hoodie, and pants leaving myself in an undershirt and boxers before padding over to my bed, Wolf following my lead shortly as he now lay next to me. I turned so I could face him, wrapping my arms around him and giving him a small kiss before drifting off to sleep.

**A/N: I'm considering once a week like last time...Fridays I think this time though. Anyways...hope you all enjoyed! Odds are I missed something in my repetitive looking over of the chapter, if so, please point it out!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'd like to start this with an apology; I'm very sorry I wasn't able to update on Friday like I planned however things had kept me away from my computer to post this. Another thing I'd like to say is thank you for the reviews! I'm glad that people are enjoying the story, it makes me feel more confident when I'm writing. I'd like to take a brief moment to address one of my reviews left by a guest, I do apologize yet I will not reveal the answer to the first part of your question, if you wish to find out I kindly ask you create an account and we may chat. To answer your second part, yes. However on with the chapter, There may be one or two mistakes due to a large lack of sleep. However enjoy!**

**Chapter 3**

**Wolf**

Consciousness crept forward slowly, rather peacefully in fact. Opening my eyes I was greeted with a rather unfamiliar room. The only thing keeping me from bolting out of bed in a panic was the black furred lupine that was curled up sleeping soundly beside me. It felt strange in this room...Instead of sunlight streaming through a window the room was dimly lit by its own design, as though sunlight was actually entering through a closed curtain. From my position on the bed I decided to look around, noticing the room was rather furnished. Although it held no holo-screen to watch anything there was a bookshelf that seemed only partially disorganized off to the side, not completely filled, yet it held enough to where there were only occasional gaps in the spacing. The floor and ceiling continued its weird metallic pattern from earlier, yet aside from that the room looked something like a typical bed room; even having a desk across the room from the bookshelf that held a laptop. Granted it wasn't overly furnished, yet that was fine. A small groan from Kyber drew my attention as he seemed to move away, granting me a chance to get up. I took the chance, and quietly got up, surprised when my bare feet did not touch cold metal, yet had a soft comforting warmth underneath them instead. With a grin I shook my head and padded away towards the bathroom, eager to see what awaited me today. If I didn't know better, I'd almost say today would just be a normal day.

Stepping into the bathroom it looked pretty simple, nothing really drawing immediate attention aside from the fact it was larger than our previously shared one, at least that's what I thought. Shedding my clothes I strode towards the shower and managed to figure out how exactly it worked, giving a sigh of pleasure as I felt warm water cascade down my fur. For a few moments I simply stood there, enjoying the feeling and wondering what this year might be like if this was how they'd be living. So far everything seemed to point towards a great year. After just standing around a bit I finally got to cleaning myself. I figured with a small shrug that Kyber wouldn't mind if I used some of his shampoo. I was rather reluctant to leave the shower after I had completely washed off; it simply felt too good. After stopping the water and drying off I tossed my clothes in a hamper by the door and walked out to grab a pair of clothes from my bag. As I got dressed I was greeted with a smile, Kyber simply sitting on the bed waiting for me.

"Aren't you going to grab a shower?" I asked casually

"I took one earlier when you were still asleep." He shrugged softly "You can put your clothes in that dresser." Indicating one beside me, as I finished putting a shirt on, he got up and dressed himself, wearing a simple white shirt and pair of jeans. While he took a bit of time getting ready I decided to go ahead and put away my clothes, before quickly following the other out the door. My nose was immediately greeted with the aroma of food being prepared and I nearly ran into Kyber, not noticing I had increased my pace. He simply grinned and soon we both found ourselves in the kitchen that was adjacent to the living room. Kyber simply took a seat at a rather long table that looked to be able to seat more than just the six occupants living there as Lorelei happened to set a few plates piled with bacon, eggs, and pancakes. My mouth watered as I took a seat next to Kyber as Lorelei just giggled softly.

"Go ahead, eat up." She said; I didn't need to be told twice, quickly grabbing a set of silverware I began to wolf down what was set in front of me, only slowing down once I noticed Kyber and Lorelei watching with a smirk.

"It's not going anywhere, Wolf." Kyber said with a grin still on his face.  
"What are you talking about, Kyber; of course it is. It has a one way ticket to his stomach." Lorelei replied.  
"Doesn't mean it needs to have the express pass." With that comment I felt my face heating up and definitely began eating slower. Although out of the corner of my eye I saw Kyber lightly getting smacked in the back of the head for the comment.  
"I'm sorry Wolf.." Kyber said, leaning over and planting a small kiss on my muzzle. I shot him a small glare that held no ill intent and just silently continued eating. Kyber simply leaned back and made small progress with the food he had in front of him, hardly touching what was on his plate.

"I just remembered." Lorelei said as she fished through her pockets to produce two phones, handing one to each of us. "Wolf, I'll go ahead and explain this now. We erased most of your contacts, with pretty much just the five of us on there now. Your phone now has a tracker in it that we can trace if we need to, and to any one that isn't us your phone is untraceable…for the most part at least." I sat there for a moment, thinking about what she said and then decided to check to see who all was still in my contacts list. Sure enough those four were there, along with Professor Isaac, but a lot of the people I was close friends with had been removed.

"Why did you have to get rid of so many?" I growled lightly in irritation.

"Did you forget we're in hiding already? One slip up and then what? Do you _want_ someone to find your boyfriend here?" Lorelei fired off in rapid succession. My ears drooped slightly as I thought about it.

"No.." I said softly.

"Good…Now, try calling each other, you may like what we did." She gave a small grin and I tried calling Kyber. After a few seconds the phrase _"I'm bringing sexy back"_ could be heard within the room as three of them noticed his phone going off. My face broke into a small grin as I heard it, a chuckle accompanying it as Kyber rejected the call. Kyber was a bit hesitant before he too did as he was told and the song "Hey Mr. Wonderful" Could be heard from my own phone. At that point my grin spread into one of the widest smiles I'd ever had and I couldn't help but howl in laughter as Kyber burned a bright red that couldn't seem to hide behind his fur color. He quickly tried grabbing my phone, causing us to crash to the ground as I held it just out of reach. As I reluctantly rejected the call, loving every bit of Kyber's reaction he slowly got up, still looking majorly embarrassed about the entire situation. As soon as Lorelei managed to get her own fit of laughter under control she took the plates from the table and suggested Kyber give me a more proper tour of the house.

**Kyber**

My face still burning underneath my fur I quietly agreed to show Wolf around the house. Whereas last time I had simply indicated the doors, aside from the hangar, where Wolf really wanted to go, this time I'd actually show him around in the rooms. First on the list was the rec. room; I walked quickly, still feeling flustered about what happened in the kitchen as Wolf trailed behind. I had been through these halls many times and it wasn't long before we reached the room and I led him inside. The room itself held many things within: a table with cards, a pool table with a top that turned it into a table tennis set up, a dart board, a holo-screen with what looked to be game consoles attached, board games, and a few other things. I saw Wolf walk around the room, just trying to take it all in. If he was surprised about this room, he'd love the other rooms. Personally I never came to this room much, only really being dragged here on occasion by one of the others. After it seemed Wolf had enough time examining the room I walked off towards the training room. Within this room it had a sparring arena, tread mills, training dummies, punching bags, and a small section off to the side that was currently in use by Ember. The area was designed to test one's balance, either using constantly shifting poles that you had to jump from one to the other and not fall off of, or, if you ever felt risky enough, you could balance on spikes and try your luck. Ember had chosen the pole simulation and was currently jumping back and forth across the area, switching between balancing on her hands and feet as both of us watched for a little bit.

"Care to give it a try?" I asked, looking over to Wolf, who seemed to be twitching in anticipation.

"Sure, doesn't look too hard." He said with a small grin. I inwardly had my own grin, although mine was for a different reason as we walked over. By the time we were over to the small area Ember had noticed us and dismounted from the simulation, powering it down.

"Wolf wants to give it a try." I said simply. Ember gave a small bow as if saying 'Be my guest.', the poles being low enough to simply walk on top of them at the moment. Both of us waited as Wolf strode onto them, a cocky smirk gracing his features. Slowly he began to ascend as the poles rose to a desired height before they slowly began changing lengths. Wolf wobbled slightly but managed to keep his balance, arrogantly stating "Is that all you got?" with an arched eyebrow. I held a small smirk as I decided to up the difficulty slightly, making it so he couldn't simply stand on one or just walk to another. A few moments later and Wolf came toppling down from an unexpected shift from a pole he just stepped on, managing to land bridal style in my arms.

"Still doesn't look too hard?" I had a wide smirk as he mumbled something about certain smug looking black lupines. Not caring for his possible embarrassment I continued on with the tour, deciding the next stop being Isaac's lab. Lucky for Wolf, the professor wasn't there, however Leroi was; currently typing away at one of the many computers in a crowded area. I set Wolf down and wandered over to Leroi after warning Wolf not to break anything.

"What are you up to?" I recognized the small computer room he was in at the moment. It was the room that Professor Isaac used to control simulations and monitor bodily and mental functions during the simulations.

"Just prepping the system for our next test. You know we're either going to have to do it today or tomorrow." Leroi said without looking up from the screen.

"We'll run the simulation tomorrow; it'll let Wolf see what exactly it does." As I currently saw said silver furred lupine examining a room off to the side that was used for said simulations.

I simply let Wolf explore the room and examine the various beakers, test tubes, and mechanical projects that seemed to be everywhere about the room. After what felt like long while Wolf finally returned to my side.

"Alright Wolf; here you can normally find either Professor Isaac or Leroi. They spend most of their time down here. As for Ember she can usually be found in the training room if I'm not around. Otherwise you kinda just have to look for us.."

Wolf nodded and I tried thinking of where else I had to show him.. Suddenly an idea came to mind.

"Leroi, mind taking Wolf to the hangars, I'm sure he'd love to spend some time with his Wolfen, and you actually know where all the tools are." The lion shrugged and simply walked off, motioning for Wolf to follow him as he led him to the hangars and then left after showing him where the tools were and leaving me free to do what I wanted. I simply went to the training room and took up sparring with Ember. I didn't see Wolf again until dinner.

**Wolf**

The rest of the day went by in a blur after Leroi had led me to the hangars. As soon as he left I had grabbed all the items I needed and then spent the entire rest of the day cleaning and checking my Wolfen. I was blissfully unaware of the passage of time, only feeling a slight pang of guilt that managed to penetrate my trance and sufficiently ending it. However I quickly dismissed it. I may have felt bad that I didn't spend the day with Kyber, but justified it with the fact that we'd be together for the entire year and would have more than enough time to be together. I looked at the time and wandered out of the room after putting everything away and saying a temporary farewell to my beloved Wolfen. The scent of something cooking began to lure me towards the kitchen. Everyone else was sitting around the table as the professor was going about preparing dinner. I joined them quietly, sitting right next to Kyber. On one end was an empty chair, presumably for Isaac, with Ember sitting across from it, and Leroi and Lorelei sitting across from Kyber and I. It wasn't long before the table was completely set and laid out with various foods, the main dish being a type of Zonessian delicacy. Before we started eating Isaac looked at me with a grin.

"Enjoy what we have in the hangar Wolf?" I gave a small nod, not entirely sure what he was getting at…that was until I looked down and noticed my clothes were dirtied from working on the Wolfen all day. I felt fairly embarrassed yet the professor just let out a warm chuckle.

"Don't worry about it Wolf, go ahead and eat." Although Kyber gave me a small grin, he didn't say anything and the others ate in silence after thanking Isaac. I had decided to focus on the food while I thought about how today went; although we were supposed to be in hiding, things seemed pretty normal. No one worrying, hell, even now everyone was just relaxing and enjoying something to eat. I seriously questioned what the rest of the year would be like at this point, curiosity leading me towards many different questions. Of those questions a certain one appearing to be at the front of my mind; just how would my relations to these people develop? Would Kyber and I eventually take it further in our relationship? Would I eventually be calling Lorelei's father my father in law? Would things be too stressful during this year? The questions continued circling until before I knew it, dinner was over, and I was being led away by my lover. When he got to our room he simply shut the door behind us and I walked over to our bed.

I was about to lay down when I heard Kyber say, "Ah ah ah." before indicating my clothing. I had nearly forgotten about how I managed to stain them, and decided to discard them, remaining in an undershirt and pair of boxers as Kyber too shed most of his clothing and got into bed. It wasn't long before sleep claimed both of us for the remainder of the night.

**A/N: It was brought to my attention by my beta that I may want to clear something up about Kyber and how everything kinda fits together "family" wise. Professor Isaac is his adoptive father in a way. They are all one close knit "family" and during wolf's line of mental questioning he wondered if he would actually be a part of it. Until next time. I hope you all have a pleasant week!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello everyone... I want to say sorry for not updating on Fridays like I said I would yet things enjoy keeping me away from my laptop...or internet in general... and a big thanks to LycanAlpha who has been my temporary beta until my usual one has a computer again. To answer my guest's question, the amount of emails you would receive varies, you can change your settings to be notified about certain things. I have mine set to tell me when someone favorites or follows either one of my stories or myself, when someone reviews, and when someone sends me a PM. Then there is the standard email to verify the email account you use. Back to the story, a bit of a warning with this one, not that anything really graphic is going to happen, but just to warn people that this chapter changes P.O.V quite often. Hope you all enjoy! **

**Chapter 4**

**Wolf**

Before I knew it, a week had flown by. I was surprised by how _normal_ everything felt… No one panicking, it didn't even feel like we were in hiding. We had all began our studies sometime earlier that week, blowing through most of it with the help of Lorelei's father and at the moment we were all just lounging around in the living room; well.. save for Leroi who was off somewhere else.. probably with the professor.. My answer to his location was shortly answered as he walked in the room, looking disapprovingly at Kyber who was currently sitting in my lap.

"Kyber." Leroi said simply, causing the black lupine to look over.

"Yes Leroi?" He inquired, tilting his head to the side curiously, which seemed to agitate Leroi somewhat.

"I know you're rather _busy_ with your boyfriend over there, however did you forget what you were _supposed _to do a week ago?" Leroi inquired, the question causing Kyber to chuckle nervously and scratch the back of his head.

"Oh..er…Yeah I did…Sorry.." Leroi sighed before turning around sharply.

"Well come on, Isaac is waiting for you, Ember, Lorelei, you both come as well. Wolf, you're welcome to watch." Afterwards he simply walked out of the room, leaving the rest of us to follow. My thoughts wandered to what it was Kyber should have done a week ago, but I soon stopped questioning, knowing it would be answered soon enough. A few moments later and we all stood in Professor Isaac's lab, the four of them walking off to the room I had inspected earlier the previous week while I was beckoned over to Professor Isaac, who was sitting in the same spot Leroi was, surrounded by different monitors and keyboards.

"Are you ready to see something Wolf? I think you'll like it!" Isaac beamed as I walked over.

"Mind telling me what that _something_ is?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest, looking mildly disinterested. Professor Isaac indicated one of the various screens, displaying the room I had seen earlier. Inside were what looked like just regular cots that you'd lay a patient on, however shortly after each of the four laid down, they were cuffed by their wrists and ankles, yet none seemed startled by it.

"This is to prevent any self-inflicted injuries during what you're about to see." Isaac explained as I continued watching. After typing in some unknown command receptors had attached to each of the four of them, and another screen flickered to life, showing vital signs.

"What you're about to see is a special type of simulation that I use to test them. With this I can put them in any type of situation to test their abilities, or if something is bothering them, I can pick up and find out what it is. Today will be a fairly "simple" mission for them, however because I don't want them to grow too confident I'm upping the difficulty." He said with a smile. The main screen in front of the professor flickered on as he hit a button, showing what seemed to be a dark virtual hollow space, with the four members standing beside each other. The professor took a moment before dawning on an ear piece with a mic and tapping a button, presumably to talk to them.

"Alright you four, It seems everything is in order… Now before we begin allow me to brief you all on what your mission is." I saw the four of them nod softly.

"A Katinan military base has been taken over by an "unknown enemy" It is your job to take back the base and prevent any more damage done. Keep in mind the base is highly equipped in more ways than one. No one on Corneria knows of the base being overthrown, If you cannot secure the base within a set amount of time, the difficulty will increase exponentially. I will give no indication of how much time you have left and you will be a fair distance from your target. Now, Select your equipment, and or "Perks" you may desire for this mission."

Kyber spoke up first. "Two tantos, able to deflect blaster fire, as my weapons, and then for my Specialty, a desert cloak."

"Cornerian Standard sniper rifle and assault rifle, along with a cloak as well." Ember spoke.

"You know us, We'll take to the skies, give us our standard fighters, upgraded lasers for me." Lorelei spoke with a smile.

"Add my new program to my fighter, I'd like to run a field test if you don't mind sir." Leroi said simply.

"Certainly… Good luck to all of you." With that the professor was typing away on the keys, inputting various commands. The screen changed to show Ember and Kyber standing in the katinan dessert, while Leroi and Lorelei were in the skies some distance behind them. Looking around I noticed Four separate screens with what looked to be everyone's different viewpoint, while the main screen showed each of them, yet in a third person view.

"Your mission begins now, follow your communicators to the target." Isaac said sternly, hearing a resounding "Yes sir!" from the four of them. Kyber and Ember took off, nearly blending in perfectly with the background; the only thing really tipping me off was that Kyber's fur took on its white alternative which was easy to see as they proceeded.

"Lorelei," Kyber spoke up, "Keep an eye out for anything you see on the ground, provide air support when possible."

"Waay ahead of you." She grinned as she began flying ahead of them. I could hear Leroi sigh.

"Don't worry, I'll cover her and keep her out of trouble." Meanwhile out of the corner of my eye I noticed a timer counting down, paying more attention to it as I realized, looking back and estimating about how long it would take them to reach the target, there was no way they'd get there before the difficulty increased.

"You set them up!" I glared rather accusingly at the man behind the monitors. He simply grinned widely, turning to me.

"Where would all the fun be if I let them off easy?" He chuckled, turning back to the screens. "Time for the fun to begin."

**Kyber**

The heat from Solar bared down on us as Ember and I made our way across the desert area. I didn't think much would happen on the way to the base, but with the professor pulling the string you never knew…

"Kyber, incoming, small group of hostiles coming your way.. I read four of them." Lorelei's voice came on the communicator.

"Understood, engage if you want, otherwise we can handle them." I replied back. A short while later another message received "Two down…but looks like we have company…you'll have to take the other two on by yourself.." Looking up into the sky I noticed both Lorelei and Leroi in a small aerial battle between the two of them and a rather fast Cornerian fighter. I felt a bolt of energy miss by a few feet and turned my attention back to the ground, noticing two figures dressed in standard Cornerian military attire.

**Wolf**

"Why are they fighting Cornerian soldiers? Aren't they on our side?" I felt a bit puzzled, but was quickly answered.

"Remember, the base is taken over by an enemy force, and Corneria doesn't know it. Now think a moment, why might that be?"

"Either it's been a recent attack…"

"Or?" The older man prompted.

"Or the enemy is disguising themselves as the actual commanding force.." Realization beginning to dawn on me.

"You catch on quick." Isaac said with a smile before returning attention back to the screens.

**Kyber**

Ember was quick to react, gunning down one of our assailants before having to dodge enemy fire from their teammate. Seeing a small opening in their gap of attention I dashed for them, aiming to land a few quick strikes to take them out. The first strike hit, knocking the weapon out of their grip, yet they managed to dodge the next few. I growled lightly, time was not on our side and we had to be quick about this. Fortunately Ember knew this as well and took them by surprise, allowing us to continue with our mission while hearing an explosion overhead followed by the two signature silver and gold fighters of our feline companions.

"Too Easy!" Lorelei claimed as we continued.

"Careful what you say, your father could just be stalling and making a diversion, we're on a time limit remember?" Ember quickly replied, seeming to stifle the tigress' good mood.

"Keep in mind, we also don't know what he's sending in to make this harder on us…" Leroi added solemnly.

"That's right…so let's get there quickly…Ember, come on, I see somewhere you can set up." Noticing the base beginning to come into view, along with a rocky outcrop that although I found a bit too convenient I wasn't going to question it, knowing that the environment was not within our control. Upon reaching the base of the outcrop Ember began setting up while I went on ahead.

"I'll provide cover from here Kyber." As Ember laid out, sniper rifle ready. Little did any of them know what was about to happen.

**Wolf**

The timer finally reach zero as Ember was setting up. 'So close, yet so far.' I thought to myself as I looked over to the professor who had a rather wide grin spread across his face. He clicked his tongue and shook his head slowly, as though disappointed.

"I warned them…now they deal with the consequences.." As he began typing on the keyboard once more my interest grew, just waiting to see what would greet my four friends. It wasn't long before on a separate screen I saw the signature Great Fox breaching the atmosphere.

"You sent Star Fox after them?!" I stood there, mouth hanging wide open.

"But of course. After all, Star Fox would defend a Cornerian base if they were paid enough."

"But now the mission's impossible!"

"Not if they work fast enough." Isaac countered. Meanwhile on the screen showing the Great Fox I heard dialogue.

"R.O.B, are you sure this is where the distress signal came from?" The voice registering as the legendary James McCloud.

"Affirmative, Distress signal received from Katinan base, claiming to be under enemy fire." Came a robot's monotone voice.

"Peppy, how many enemies do you read, the signal didn't inform us of any numbers." The vulpine said.

"Scanners show…Just four?!" The hare sounded baffled.

"FOUR?!" Came a squeal from a third member. If I recalled this one was known as Pigma Dengar. "Why is a base of Cornerian soldiers having trouble with FOUR lousy troublemakers?" Sounding rather offended at being summoned for something seemingly trivial.

"Think about this." James said, "We wouldn't have received the signal if these were four ordinary people. Peppy, Pigma, you both take the Arwings and patrol the skies, I'll go and make sure the commander of the base is alright."

"Got it." Came the replies of the other Star Fox members.

**Kyber**

I began my approach to base, noticing an outpouring of guards rushing from the entrance. A few fell during the charge thanks to my "guardian" covering me from behind as I braced myself for a rather lengthy encounter. I guessed maybe twenty guards had come out to "greet" us, with four fallen already due to a certain sniper. A dull ringing greeted my ears as my tantos came out of their sheaths and I rushed into the remaining group. The soldiers doing what they could to halt my advance were met with cold steel as my blades sang of their encounters with the enemies flesh or armor. A few had managed to nick me and cause light wounds with their own weapons, a few blasters grazing my skin and singeing my fur. However compared to everyone else, my wounds were minor. I cleaned off the blades after the skirmish and returned them to their sheaths, heading for the door. It was unsurprising to see it was locked, however, like every time before, there was a way around it.

"Leroi, I need you down here; the entrance is shut."

"Sorry Kyber..no can do. We've got company!" I looked up to see Lorelei and Leroi engaging someone in the skies, my jaw went slack as I noticed just who that "someone" was..

"Are you kidding me?! He sent _them_ after us?!"

"Afraid so Kyber… I managed to find another opening for you though.. Follow your com and you should be able to find it… Leroi out."

Looking at my com I quickly dashed off towards another entrance that was marked, knowing now that we were sorely outmatched…

**Leroi**

Mentally I sighed deeply. Truth be told I had somewhat anticipated this, however that didn't mean I was prepared for an aerial battle with two members of Star Fox… I had barely managed to evade a volley of shots sent my way from one of the two Arwings.

"You really should pay attention to your opponent. Otherwise this will be over quickly." One of the members chastised on an open communications link.

"Heheh, Just makes it easier to take out the trash." The other commented. "I've got that one, you get the other." Just like that I had Pigma Dengar on my tail, I was handling a bit better than Lorelei, trying to help her out when I could, but the chance didn't present itself often, only sparingly at best. I sighed before saying to myself,

"Well…I did say I wanted to field test this…" Imputing a few commands from my fighter, I simply said over the communications. "Stealth squadron, reveal yourselves." In the blink of an eye six other fighter crafts appeared to join the fray, three resembling Lorelei's craft, and three resembling my own. "Scatter!" After giving the command all six crafts began a rather scrambled confusing attack pattern, causing the two pilots the lose track of their original targets. I saw Lorelei taking the time to open fire, however missing her target, just like all the others. However the wiser of the two spoke up after a few fired shots seemed to do nothing to the fighter he targeted.

"They're just holograms! Don't waste your time on them Pigma." As Peppy then pulled into a loop, getting behind the craft firing at him and managing to take out a chuck of its shielding.

"Leroi, I don't know how much I can hold out against him.." Came the Tigress' voice on a closed communication link.

"Just do your best…at this point we're only delaying the inevitable…"

**Wolf**

Leroi's craft shook as he took a hit from his opponent, a warning flashing on his console displayed that the device creating the decoys been damaged as he then noticed the six crafts flicker from existence. The game of cat and mouse continued for a while, with Leroi very much hating that he had to play the mouse. However a sudden Idea had come to him, what better way to avoid the cat, than to hide in the mouse hole? Leroi climbed into the skies, and grinned when he noticed his adversary following him, as they boasted "You're not getting away that easily." With a chuckle. Leroi suddenly changed direction, angling and plummeting to the ground at an increasing speed, noticing the rocky outcrop that Ember was positioned on. Astoundingly the pig had decided to follow his lead. 'Not the brightest one is he?' Leroi asked himself. Moments before impact with the ground Leroi pulled up on his controls, banking hard to avoid the rock face and kicking up a large cloud of sand in the process. Pigma, so focused on blasting the cat out of the sky, had failed to notice the outcrop that provided a solid wall, pulling up to avoid crashing into the ground yet failing to avoid the rock wall that greeted him.

"I…Can't believe that worked…" He said to himself, his pride in pulling something off like that against a member of Star Fox left him momentarily oblivious to the fact that his teammate had gone down during his stunt. Leaving him, and a rather skilled hare to duel in the skies. Unfortunately the duel didn't last long as the hare clearly outmatched him in aerial combat, claiming the skies for Star Fox.

I simply watched in amazement as the small aerial battle took place, however it was not the sole thing that held my attention. While all focus was kept on the four planes dueling for dominance, Ember failed to notice the remaining member of Star Fox appear behind her until it was too late. Kyber was now far from the scene to be of any help, yet was nearing his objective of locating the other entrance. Meanwhile James McCloud simply walked in the front door, practically being escorted to a man who by all means looked like a Cornerian official, however the man seemed to stick to the shadows, leaving his face concealed from view.

"Thank you for coming, Mr. McCloud." A smile could practically be heard forming on his features. However my attention to their conversation was soon replaced by Kyber's screen as he entered the base.

**Kyber**

Upon entering the base the first thing that struck me was how quiet it was…for all the noise they caused so far would surely have raised some alarm. I looked around, my ears straining to hear any approaching footsteps as I quickly yet quietly made my way down what seemed like an abandoned hallway. After a few uninterrupted hallways I dashed into a side room at the sound of approaching footsteps. The side room being a small storage closet. Straining my ears I managed to make out one person, from the pacing it sounded like a normal patrol. Counting silently in my head I waited until I deemed they had made enough progress past the door I hid behind and quickly dashed out of the room, using a tanto I slit their throat while clamping a hand over their mouth. Dragging the body into the storage room I decided to try and blend in, swapping out the clothing I wore for their military outfit, which was a bit big on me, but it wasn't like they'd be needing it anymore. I sighed in relief noticing the guard was a black canine, one that I could easily look like. With a shift of my fur coloring I looked similar to the guard, save for the eye color difference. With the change in appearance, along with ditching my own gear to make it less apparent I left the room, quickly heading to what was indicated as my target room, the look of urgency enough to allow me to pass by the other guards, who probably guessed I had found something that needed their supervisor's attention. Bursting forth into the room, panting lightly, trying to look as much as an actual soldier from the base who had accidentally forgotten their appearance in their haste, I quickly scrambled to make myself look more presentable in front of my "superior". Upon looking up I noticed a vulpine sitting in a chair looking at me with a raised eyebrow, and directly ahead stood a man in the shadows.

"Sir!" I said, trying to act as much like a standard military soldier as possible.

"The intruder managed to get inside, I found the body of one of our men inside a storage closet." It wasn't entirely a lie.. more like a narration from another point of view.

"I see…" The man seemed to pause for a moment. "Tell me…How are our plans in Corneria going?" The man inquired. I was surprised that, especially saying so right in front of the man who defended Corneria many times over.

"They are going well sir." I claimed, hoping that it was the right answer. My heart stopped when I heard a low chuckle, followed by

"Game Over, pup." The vulpine fired off a shot that was mere inches from my face as the whole world stopped, and I was brought back to reality.

**A/N: Yeah...remember what I said about "Don't try to follow my timeline"...this would be where that begins to take effect, I can try to explain it to those who ask but I also don't want to give too much away... I do hope you all enjoyed the fourth chapter! I'll do my best to have the next one up on time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey everyone, finally back on track...for now at least... I decided to take a small break from Kyber and Wolf to show what's been going on with Fox, as well as introduce a new character to the story! Sorry that it's short, Hope you guys enjoy!**

**Chapter Five**

**Fox**

I sighed heavily as I sat on the edge of my bed staring down at the floor. It was maybe three in the afternoon and I had just gotten done speaking with my father. School started a week ago, and although I hadn't seen Wolf or the ex-teacher Kyber I had thought they'd have still been somewhere on campus. Oh how _wrong_ I was… My father had finally managed to get here after I had called days ago. Over the summer I became aware that my father had taken on a job to find and capture the white lupine that had attacked the neighboring city. When I had first seen the clip playing less than a year ago I hadn't thought much of it, I figured the issue would have been resolved long ago and that whoever they were would have been apprehended. However, as I was trying to help my father, the connection had only recently clicked between the white lupine in the video, and the black one who snatched Wolf before I could. I admit, when I called my father to tell him about it I had no idea how the two may have been related, it had just been a thought about how Kyber could have led them to whoever did it. But, after searching the campus, and then later talking to the Headmaster about it, we were told that Kyber, along with his friends, had all switched to independent studies and that he had no clue where they had taken off to. My jaw clenched at the thought of how not only possibly the _only_ person who could help but, Wolf could be anywhere in the Lylat system by now! And if that wasn't bad enough, I had made a fool of myself in front of my own father, and his teammates… I growled and stood up quickly leaving my room in the hopes of clearing my head. Dad said he'd be asking around town to try and find some information, so I had to let him do that and try to focus on my studies. This year admittedly didn't seem like a very interesting one, yet it had only been a week after all. I stepped outside into the slightly chilled air and decided to take a walk around campus to a local coffee shop; maybe that would take my mind off everything? As I continued walking I became lost in thought, unable to help but think of Wolf.

'I'm sure Wolf is alright… He can take care of himself.." I tried saying to myself. To be honest over the summer there wasn't a day that I didn't worry over my rival turned crush, and there wasn't a day that passed where I didn't entertain the thought of what it would be like now if we were together then. I shook my head hard trying to stop the chain of thoughts that began, unfortunately colliding into someone in the process and landing in a sitting position.

"Sorry about that…" I apologized as I scratched the back of my head lightly, embarrassed that I hadn't been paying attention. I heard a small amused chuckle and looked up. Before me stood a jackal with sandy brown fur and blue eyes, they wore a small smile and held their hand out to me. I took the offered hand and stood up.

"Thanks." I said, offering a small smile of my own. Looking at the jackal before me I noticed he was well built, although his height was shorter than Wolf's. They wore a pair of black jeans and a matching jacket with the hood up from what I could see.

"It's not a problem." He spoke, surprising me somewhat for some reason. I had nearly forgotten I hadn't introduced myself.

"I'm Fox, by the way."

"A pleasure to meet you Fox. You can call me Grimm."

"Cool…Say Grimm…What are you doing on campus?" I hadn't seen the guy at all last year and they looked to be in at least their thirties. He simply grinned a bit more and gave another small chuckle.

"I'm simply here to pay a visit, however I do have time to spare if you're not busy yourself."

"In that case…would you like to grab something to drink with me?" It sounded a bit odd.. yet I needed someone to talk to…and oddly enough I hadn't seen any of my friends around, besides this guy didn't seem so bad. He agreed and it was just a short walk later until we got to the coffee shop, now sitting outside with our respective drinks as he listened to my story.

"It seems you have quite a bit going on," He stated "Are you sure this Kyber guy is connected to it?" He raised an eyebrow. I felt my gaze avert from his.

"Well..no..not exactly… But I figured it was a start." I admitted sheepishly, mistakes were never something I enjoyed admitting. The jackal sitting before me seemed to consider what I said before he spoke again.

"Fox, I'd like to help you find the guy you're after." His words stunned me for a moment and in that time I could hardly say anything.

"R-really?" Looking at him curiously and still not quite believing what he had said.

"Of course. Someone who goes about destroying a city must not go unpunished. It's only right they be apprehended." He offered a reassuring smile.

"T…That's great! Thank you!" I beamed, grinning widely before noticing the time..I hadn't noticed it had gotten so late.. "Hey…sorry but I gotta run.." I said before taking off back to my dorm. I heard the call goodbye, yet didn't see the facial expression.

**Grimm**

I simply could not believe my luck; although admittedly, when I saw Fox McCloud walking in this direction I had made it look as though we accidentally walked into each other, I could not have expected what would happen next. After we had ran into each other Fox had offered to get something to drink and I was currently listening to his most recent story. As I listened I grinned inwardly.

'So he _was_ here. No matter, it wouldn't be fun if he stayed in one place.' I thought to myself. However despite my thoughts I had a role to play, and right now that role was the unknowing stranger.

"It seems you have quite a bit going on," I said simply. "Are you sure this Kyber guy is connected to it?" I raised an eyebrow, however I already knew the answer to my question. Seeing his gaze move away from my own in uncertainty caused my inward grin to grow more, the poor boy didn't even know how right he was. His next words confirmed this.

"Well..no..not exactly… But I figured it was a start." Ahh doubt; such a wonderful thing to toy with. I'd been searching for the wolf for quite some time, yet never before had a name for this target. But now I did. Perhaps with a few more assets on my side I could finally begin the long awaited game; and what better assets than the legendary James McCloud and his son?

"Fox, I'd like to help you find the guy you're after." I could tell he didn't expect my response by the time it took him to speak and the curious look he gave me.

"R-really?"

"Of course. Someone who goes about destroying a city must not go unpunished. It's only right they be apprehended." I gave a warm smile, trying to reassure him while also masking the rather dark one that hid just below the surface.

"T…That's great! Thank you!" It was rather obvious about how much joy had surged within the young vulpine before me, it was then that he also said. "Hey…sorry but I gotta run.." as he raced off. I called farewell, keeping a bright tone, while my mask came off, revealing the fanged grin I wore behind the false smile.

'The game has begun "Kyber", the pieces assembled; let's see your next move.'

**A/N: Hope you all enjoyed! Again, sorry that it's a bit short...However I can tell this story will definitely be longer than year one, there is quite a bit to set up. Please review and hope to see you guys next week!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I am soooo sorry for not doing this earlier! I promise this is going to continue, it's just that I've been really busy and getting ready to leave in a few days and things have been keeping me from writing. Currently I'm typing this on my phone because I do not have access to my laptop, so I apologize for any errors. This also has not been checked by my beta like usual so I hope you guys like it, to make up for two weeks of not updating I'm trying to make this chapter longer.**

**Chapter six**

**Professor Isaac**

When the simulation ended I let out a small sigh, waiting for the four to arrive from the other room. Looking to Wolf I offered a small grin.

"Soon enough, I'll allow you to partake in the simulations if you wish, today was a bit more of a demonstration."

"sounds like fun... provided I don't up against StarFox on my first try." He replied, making me chuckle softly.

"I assure you, I won't do that unless you instruct it or I think you're ready, you'll be forewarned in that case." Wolf gave a small nod as he too waited for the others to arrive, arms folded across his chest, leaning against the door frame. It wasn't too long before the group of four exited the room, walking slowly to the door where the other two stood. I couldn't help but notice the air about them holding minor annoyance and disappointment.

"Well," I started. "It's time to evaluate how you did." Each of the four nodding quietly. It was unusual to see the group so quiet. Normally, even after a failure in a mission, each of them were still keen on how they could improve themselves. "I shouldn't have to tell you that you had failed your assigned mission." That much was obvious, "However, there is a reason you all went up against StarFox. I did this as a secret mission, one to test you on how you all as a team would work together against impossible odds, and how to be adaptable to new situations. You all went about this mission the way you usually would, relying on each other yet remaining as two separate groups and then acting independently." Still the four said nothing, even wolf wasn't trying to jump to their defense, then again, wolf didn't know how this usually went.

"To start off, you all knew this was a race against time, and despite that fact Kyber and Ember still crossed on foot, on terrain designed to slow them down. Under normal circumstances this would be fine, however in this situation it would have been much better if Lorelei and Leroi had landed and picked both Kyber and Ember up and allowed them to ride on their wings. However, that mistake could have been overlooked, that is, if when StarFox had arrived, you all stuck together instead of going about this your normal way. Kyber," I began, he looked over, attentive. "Shortly after you ran off for the other entrance to try and finish this mission, Ember was taken out by James. She had not seen him coming, however had you been there you both could have had a chance at taking him out." I saw him look over to Ember in surprise. "Ember," I continued. "You could have provided ground support for both Leroi and Lorelei. I know that you had confidence in their abilities." I quickly said as I saw she was about to say something "However, even the most skilled people require backup, and if Kyber backed _you _up then you wouldn't have had to worry about being snuck up on." I looked to the four of them once more "Lorelei, you did provide air support for the first part of the mission, yet you did not assist your partner in the skies, even as Leroi tried doing what he could for you. Leroi, you provided nice support for Lorelei, yet provided none for Kyber or Ember save for informing Kyber of a second entrance."

"We're sorry sir." Ember started.

"We will work harder next time." Kyber finished. I couldn't help but grin at them and shake my head lightly.

"I did say I made the mission impossible, so your failure in this mission doesn't count towards your records that I've kept." They seemed to brighten up significantly after being told that they weren't supposed to succeed in the mission in the first place, Wolf however seemed baffled. I was about to explain when my phone went off. With a sigh I excused myself and went into another room to answer the call.

"Hello? May I ask who is calling?"

"Professor Cefire, I've called to ask you something." The voice was familar, it didn't take long to remember the voice belonged to James McCloud.

"Yes ?" I inquired curiously. This was the first time I had ever received a call from the reknown hero, I couldn't help but wonder what he needed.

"I've called today to ask if I could pay you a visit. I have a few questions, and think you could help."

"Certainly sir, I can see you within the next few days if that is alright."

"That will be fine. Thank you." with that the call ended with a click and I let out a sigh. A call from the hero of the Lylat system could either be a good thing, or a bad thing depending on the situation. Walking back into the room I noticed the five all standing around together still.

"Lorelei, Leroi, there is something I need to discuss with you both, the rest of you are free to do what you'd like." With a small nod from the three canines they walked off, leaving the three of us alone.

"Yes father?" Lorelei tilted her head in curiosity While Leroi folded his arms patiently across his chest.

"For the next few days you and Leroi shall stay with me in the upper house, we have a very important guest coming over."

"who?" Was the question the two asked next.

"None other than James McCloud," I replied, ignoring the simultaneous outburst from the two. "And I don't want to raise any suspicions."

"And how would having us here avoid suspicions? We're supposed to be studying abroad for all they know." Leroi countered.

"It's only been a week, it's not impossible to say that you both came over to stay as you planned out where you wanted to study."

"we'll help." the two replied with a nod before walking off to do as they were told.

**Grimm**

Things were going very well,'and it's only just the beginning', I thought triumphantly to myself. There was just one thing left to do before part one was complete. The only thing left to do was to act as an informant to the hero of the Lylat system. But it I couldn't do that now however, oh no, it wouldn't do to let your pawns know who was pulling the strings. Luckily, I knew just who would help me. Pulling out a phone I quickly dialed a number, it only rang once before it was picked up.

"yes, sir?" the voice inquired. I allowed myself a small smile, they always knew just when I needed them.

"I need you to deliver a message for me to James McCloud." I stated simply.

"McCloud? Why would you need to send him a message?" just like that my small smile was replaced with a frown, I didn't expect them asking questions.

"just do it!" I snapped quietly "Tell him to investigate the house of Professor Isaac Cefire." The voice on the other end took a while to respond, probably wanting to make sure they did this right.

"standard voice modifier and blocked number?"

"that will suffice for now." I stated before ending the call with a click. My grin began to reappear as I continued to the place where I had lived for quite some time now. I may not want to reveal myself just yet, but that didn't mean I couldn't make the first attack. Upon entering the shelter I called my home I sat before a board. The pieces that sat upon the board were unique in the fact that they were carved out to replicate certain people. It was just like a game of chess as I moved two pieces to face each other. The two figures that stood before each other were James and Isaac, with James' figure flanked by both Peppy and Pigma While, for the moment, Isaac stood alone, guarding a black and white marble figure. My grin broke out even more and a chuckle escaped my throat in glee as I rested my head on folded hands, looking down at the figures.

"I've made the first move Isaac, let's see how you'll handle this." I thought aloud.

**A/N: Once more I am so sorry for not getting this out sooner. I also apologize for a few other things, mainly for any errors, and the shortness of Grimm's section... It was longer I swear! But then my finger just HAD to slip and erase it all... Stupid phone... But ummm... I hope you all at least kinda enjoyed this chapter... I also don't know when my next update will be since school is starting up again an I'm leaving in a few days... Sooo... Until next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey guys. Just thought I'd try and get a chapter out before school started, since for me it starts tomorrow. This chapter is kinda to make up for my lack of updating for those two to three weeks. I wanted to let you guys know that the next chapter will involve a timeskip, however whether it's a week or two or maybe a month or two I don't know yet... Anyways, enjoy. Since I have a new laptop, and can't really set up a way to really reach my Beta as freely as I used to right this moment I am currently writing without one, so I would greatly appreciate any reviews you guys give! Hope you've been liking it thus far!  
Chapter 7**

**Professor Isaac**

The appointed day had finally come, today was the day that I had agreed to talk with StarFox team leader James McCloud. With a small sigh I ran a hand through my hair as I sat in the upper house's living room. I wasn't sure what, at least not yet, but something was off about this meeting. Only time would tell however if I was right. It wasn't too long before I heard a knock on the door, signaling his arrival. Standing up and brushing my coat off I strode over to the door to answer it, only to have a moment of surprise afterwards. Not only was the Lylat's top mercenary standing before me, however he also had his team to his back, along with another person I had never expected to accompany them. After recovering from the brief moment of shock I cleared my throat a bit.

"So sorry, please, do come in." I said as I stood aside, gesturing for the four to come inside.  
"Please take a seat, I'll be right back with some refreshments." I offered, however James simply shook his head.

"That won't be necessary, we only have a few questions." He stated. I looked a bit baffled at the statement.

"I'm not sure what kind of questions you have, yet I hope I may be of service." Was all I could say, trying to think of what it was they may have wanted.

"We hope so as well." He replied before starting his inquiry. "Do you happen to know of the attack that happened almost a year ago now?" Wasting no time at all to get to the point. I took a bit of time before answering.

"I can't say I have." I lied, I knew full well what he was referring to, about how nearly a year ago a neighboring city was attacked by an "Unknown assailant", and I knew in fact that it was Kyber who did it. However I was not going to make that known to those who most likely wished harm against him, it wasn't as though Kyber had a choice in the matter. "I'm not one for keeping up with the news." I apologized.

"That's a surprise, considering your occupation, you should be on the forefront of new developments, shouldn't you?" Claimed the fourth voice. I felt my eyes narrow as I looked to him. The voice continued, heedless of the concealed glare he was receiving. "If you three don't mind, I would like to talk to Isaac in private." The other three gave either small nods or halfhearted shrugs.

"In that case, please, allow my daughter to get you all something to drink while you wait, she's staying here for a bit before she heads off to study." McCloud simply nodded in response, and I called for Lorelei to come over as I went down the halls, leading the fourth member to my study, where I knew we could speak unobserved. Or at least, unobserved from their point of view. Once the door was shut I clasped my hands behind my back and pressed a special button on my watch, one that allowed for the conversation to be seen and heard from any floor in the secret housing underneath me.

**Wolf *This section is explained in the Bottom A/N***

I noticed Kyber's ears twitch before my own began twitching at the sound of static in Kyber's room. Sitting up from my previously reclined position I tried pinpointing the noise, before noticing a screen appearing and lighting up to reveal the professor's private study, with both he and someone else standing inside the room.

"Isaac." They said, a trace of disgust evident in their voice, though it was well concealed.

"Beltino." Isaac gave back as a short reply, his own distain evident in his narrowed eyes instead of his voice. "What is it you want?" He asked, annoyance hinted at in his voice as he folded his arms over his chest. Beltino took the time to adjust his glasses before speaking.

"Don't think your act will work with me. It may fool those three out there yet we both know that what you said out there is a lie. Where are you hiding him?" Beltino demanded. This raised quite a few questions, looking over to Kyber I saw that I wasn't the only one.

"Hiding who?" Isaac replied, seeming to annoy the amphibious scientist.

"The Culprit! The one who attacked the city!" He snapped back at the tiger, only causing Isaac's eyes to narrow further and his annoyance to increase.

"For one, watch what you say, you are a guest in my house." He warned, "And how is it you're so sure I'm hiding them?" as he now arched an eyebrow. "What leads you to believe that I could possibly be harboring a criminal?"

I expected Beltino to have staggered a bit under the return, yet he replied almost instantaneously.

"The very fact you lied about having no knowledge of the attack could suggest that you're trying to cover for them."

"Ah, but there lies your fault. It _Could_ suggest that, and yet you have no way of telling if I'm lying, perhaps I didn't catch the news on that day and therefore truly have no knowledge of such an event, however I'm almost certain you'll stick to your accusations."

"You'd be correct in your assumption. However, now it is my turn to warn you-" Beltino didn't get much further before the tiger seemed to lose his patience.

"Warn me!? Warn me about what? That if this happens to end up like the incident before you'll just have me shoulder the blame?" He snapped, rapidly firing questions, Beltino seemed to visibly pale from the last question and seemed to lose his patience himself.

"D-Don't you Dare try to bring that up!" He exclaimed shakily, the professor seemed to find it amusing and chuckled.

"Oh? And why not? We both played a part in that incident those few decades ago. Surely you haven't forgotten that?" Professor Isaac began walking around Beltino, although it looked non-threatening, the scientist looked uneasy.

"G-General Pepper a-already told us that we had no ties to that!" Beltino stammered.

"Oh but we did. In fact it was all of us, General Pepper included. We all made the decision to start that project, General Pepper even gave the all clear for us to begin our work." Isaac continued. Meanwhile I had questions racing through my mind, just what could they be talking about? What incident was there so long ago? What project?

"But he also stated that if things went bad-" Beltino started, only to get cut off again.

"He did state that we would hold none of the blame for a failure, after all, we were among the top scientists the system had to offer. That wouldn't have gone well if the supposed "Best scientists" and the people's beloved general lost control of their experiment. Yet the entire project was supposed to be kept from the public anyway, only once it had proven successful were we allowed to reveal it."

"And look at where that got us!" The toad yelled.

"I admit, the Reaper Project was a failure." He started. "However the research gained from the experiment was irreplaceable. The reason for our failure, was that each of us was in a hurry to try and prove ourselves, make ourselves useful to the Lylat system, we overlooked a major detail. Our subject's mental stability. However, even though we are to blame, the general managed to cover it up as one of Andross' attempts with experimenting." Isaac chuckled. "Oh the irony… The Reaper Project was designed to help the military with dangerous missions where the general didn't want to gamble so many lives or pay too much for a mercenary group. But, there was a bright side to the risks we took. Through our studying we had learned of ways to improve an ordinary person's life, ways to benefit those who suffered. Those who had a frail body were able to gain strength, those who had failing eyesight would be able to have perfect vision."

"What's your point in bringing all of this up anyway!?" Beltino demanded impatiently.

"The _point_ is what I am about to say right now. This is where we differ. Whereas you were content to just throw your failure under the rug and go on acting like it never happened I have actually been making an effort to clean up the mess we made, regardless of how it brands me. If I'm declared a traitor for doing what I can to help save the Lylat from making the same mistake again, then so be it."

"Oh, and then what _are_ you doing to help "Clean up" as you so put it?" The amphibian inquired as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Originally I had begun a new project with others who felt the same, we began what we called 'Project Salvation'". My ears perked at that bit of information. I remembered that name from the files I found back at the lab during the 'prison break'. The scientists notes had never explained what the project entailed, but they did reference it quite often in their reports. "However, after a while we were unsure what to do, and the project ended and the experiment was terminated. As of now I have been researching other ways to benefit our military in the event that experiment R34p3r isn't dead as we originally assumed."

"So you might be doing all of this work for absolutely nothing?"

"Oh no, it's not nothing, It still benefits our military and it's always better to be safe than sorry." Isaac shrugged lightly.

"Then what do you make of the attack that happened a year ago?" As Beltino began showing a display of the attack. Isaac simply shrugged. "I'm not sure, perhaps the experiment we thought dead has come back, perhaps the other scientists tried recreating "The Reaper" to combat the original."

"If The Reaper is back…" The toad began fearfully.

"Then we best be prepared." Isaac finished grimly before the transmission was cut.

**James**

It didn't take too long for the Professor's daughter to come out and greet us. I put on a warm, friendly smile as I recalled a brief encounter I had with her many years ago.

"Lorelei, you surely have grown since I saw you last." For some reason it seemed to throw the tigress off as she paused for a moment trying to think before her eyes brightened and her smile grew.

"Oh! I remember now, you stopped by once before.. I'm sorry… It's been a long time, and you only stopped by once." She admitted somewhat sheepishly. I couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction.

"That's fine, I didn't expect you to remember, you were a young girl back then." I said as I offered another smile, another person walked into the room, this one was a lion that looked about her age. I raised an eyebrow curiously.

"And who is this?"

"Oh this is Leroi, he's a friend of mine."

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. McCloud." The lion said, holding out a hand. I shook it, yet had to question.

"I know this is rather stupid, yet, how would you know my name when I haven't introduced myself?"

"You're easily recognizable with all the work you do. Allow me to introduce myself properly. I'm Leroi Depure." He said with a small grin. The last name seemed to ring a bell, but I wasn't sure where I heard it.

"Doesn't your family…" I began, thankfully he picked up on what I was going to say.

"My parents fund the Arspace Dynamics Company. They own a private company that helps with gathering sufficient resources and funding for projects they deem useful." He explained. Well, that certainly did explain why his last name was so familiar.

"Mind if I ask why you're here?" Although I expected him to reply, Lorelei seemed to do it for him.

"We both decided to study abroad, and wanted to work together. So we're doing all of our planning here before we go anywhere."

"Ah…Although, do you both know Wolf O'Donnel by any chance?" As I looked to the both of them.

"We would talk every now and again, but not really much else…Why, did something happen to him?" Lorelei showed concern and internally I started kicking myself, I should have expected a mercenary asking questions can sometimes be taken other than friendly conversation.

"Oh no, nothing bad has happened to him." I tried my best at reassuring her. "It's just that from what I know he is also taking the opportunity to study abroad and was wondering if you had any idea where he might be planning on going."

"Hmm.." Both seemed to pause for a moment in thought. "To be honest, I'm not sure… we didn't really know him that well…" Lorelei said, her voice seeming a bit down from not being able to help.

"It's alright, honestly, it's no big deal, I was just curious is all."

"If you say so… Oh, I'll be right back, I almost forgot the drinks." Lorelei said as she suddenly dashed out to the kitchen and returned shortly afterwards with glasses of water. After a while the room simply fell into idle chitchat as we waited for the two scientists to get back. It was shortly after that my curiosity was starting to get the better of me.

'Just what could they possibly be talking about?' I asked myself, my mind trying to entertain the idea, yet it quickly lost interest when it simply decided that they were simply discussing something rather scientific and uninteresting to the vulpine. Mentally I sighed and my leg started unconsciously bouncing up and down. Nothing added up right now… The tip we received said to investigate the professor, yet given the situation, I can't just walk around and turn his house inside out… I would have questioned Isaac more, at least that would have been productive, yet Beltino needed to talk to him..He said it was important he come along…But why? Then again, sitting and thinking was best left to people like Peppy and Beltino… I hated sitting in one place for too long, the only exception to that was when in my Arwing or aboard the GreatFox… at least then we were still _Moving_! I loved the action that came with being a mercenary. If I wanted to sit around all day I would have been an accountant or something… Although the sudden thoughts about jobs brought a question to my attention.

"Lorelei, your mother still works for the Cornerian Military right?" I noticed her face light up at the topic.

"Yep." The amount of pride in her voice couldn't be contained if she tried. "I want to eventually work with her and become one of their pilots as well." She said with a bright grin smile that simply made my heart warm, thinking back to how Fox was just the same, wanting to become a mercenary like myself.

"If you don't mind me asking..where is she now? If she's around I'd love to talk to her." To be honest the last time I had spoken to the tigress was on a mission some years ago. I'd never admit it to anyone, yet she actually bailed me out at least once, though I was always quick to return the favor. However it was when the question was brought up that her face seemed to fall a bit, her smile turning into a slight frown.

"Actually… we don't know where she is…" She replied "She hasn't been back yet for a long time… the last we heard was a few years ago that she was being sent on a special mission and that she'd be back as soon as she was done…"

Before I could comment or question anything else, Beltino had reappeared with the Tiger following right behind him. I stood up, nodding to the both of them.

"Well, Isaac, Thank you for allowing us over and answering the question we had." I smiled. "Hopefully you three have a nice day. We'll try not to come back if we can help it." As I walked to the door, both Peppy and Pigma got up to follow, Peppy also saying a word of thanks to the scientist before following the rest of us out the door.

"Well, did you learn anything Beltino?" Peppy inquired as he looked over to the toad who once again adjusted his glasses.

"From what I could gather, Professor Isaac Cefire has no ties to the incident that occurred almost a year ago."

"Were we sent a false lead then?!" Pigma shouted in annoyance, grumbling when he was told to keep his voice down.

"No..I don't think it was a false lead." James stated as he began walking back down to their Arwings, his hand on his chin in some thought. "He is a scientist after all, and a bright one at that, so it would make sense to suspect someone who could possibly have the capabilities… So it wasn't someone sending false information, just telling us to be cautious… We'll keep tabs on him just to be sure that he _is _free of suspicions."

**A/N: Hope you all liked this chapter. It's still me trying to build up because I have a lot planned out for this year to happen, so I'm trying to do it piece by piece so I know I've gotten it instead of say a super large chapter that may have missed something... Concerning Wolf's P.O.V in this chapter it was more of a way to allow me to type what happened between Beltino and Isaac in third person without breaking my usual First person view. I also kindly ask, if you have any assumptions about where this plot may lead, to not Shout it out in the Reviews but instead send me a message instead. Also, I will answer any questions you may have as my readers if put in a review or message. Thanks again for reading and I'll hopefully see you all again soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey everyone, new chapter for you guys here! I got a bit stuck writing this..otherwise it would have been out a few days ago. Hopefully I'll be able to write more soon, but as for next week...probably not... I get slammed with tests next week... But aside from that I hope you guys enjoy chapter 8!**

**Chapter 8**

**Wolf**

It had been two months now since I fled with Kyber, things were peaceful, however with that came a few problems… Things were beginning to become too routine for my liking. I mean, things were nice here, don't get me wrong; if I decided to spar with someone they always kept it interesting…but everything was just becoming dull. I haven't really even been _outside_ since we got here…though I guess I shouldn't complain about that, everyone else has been living like that too…except for the occasional times where the professor had to leave to get food or something.. Currently I was just walking down the hall thinking of something to do.

'Sparring practice?' I asked myself, nah…I'd been sparing for most of the past few days. 'Simulation?' My mind seemed to offer. 'Of what?' I asked back, as nice as it sounded, I wasn't too keen on going to bug someone just to help me set up something I wasn't even sure what I'd do with it. Normally I wouldn't think twice about going and bugging whoever I wanted, but given that I was stuck here I knew that I had to be mindful of everyone's tolerance… Kyber's seemed to be especially long, and I was considering asking if he wanted to do something, but then he'd ask what and I wasn't too sure on that.. 'See if you can fly your Wolfen?' Now that sounded like a good idea. With said idea in mind I strode off to find the professor, finding him in his usual spot surrounded by computers, the glare of the screens somewhat reflected in his glasses.

"Mr. Cefire?" I began, trying to get his attention, with a small "hm?" he turned to face me.

"Yes Wolf, what is it?" A small amount of curiosity in his eyes as he waited for my response.

"Do you think I could fly my Wolfen?" I asked.

"I can get the simu-" the professor started, yet was cut off.

"No, I mean my real one, outside." I stated, noticing a bit of annoyance in my voice. Isaac didn't respond for a while, which I didn't like; I was about to prompt an answer out of him because he seemed to be thinking, but it turned out that I didn't need to, I was given a small nod.

"Alright…Just be careful." He said, giving into the demand. "And try not to leave the area please." I felt my mood lift as I gave a word of thanks and almost dashed down the hallways towards the hangar. When I got to my Wolfen I noticed the hangar was opening up, allowing me to take off. Wasting no time at all I jumped into my Wolfen and took off.

**Kyber**

I had just seen Wolf running down the halls looking happier than he'd been in a long time. I wondered just what seemed to lift his mood so much and decided to see my "father" about it. By the time I got to where he was stationed, from what I saw on one of the screens, I could see that he was observing Wolf, who was prepping his Wolfen for take-off.

"He really needed that you know," I spoke up, causing him to turn and look to me with a bit of surprise. A slightly raised eyebrow from him told me to continue speaking.

"He's not like you and I." I continued, with a small smile that held a bit of sadness due to what I was about to say. "Wolf is a normal person, not to mention he's someone who you can just let stagnate; Wolf needs to be able to move freely, unlike a lab rat like myself or a scientist like you…. We're used to these conditions… he isn't. Even Lorelei, Ember and Leroi need to be able to move about. There's no need to restrict their movement just because of me."

"I see your point; I'll allow them the ability to leave the premises when they desire. However let us get one thing straight: You're no lab rat, you're a person just as much as they are."

"But that would be where you're wrong. I'm nothing like them. I may still be a Cornerian just like the rest of them, but we both know I am a lab rat and nothing more can change that."

"Kyber-"

"I've been experimented on and in captivity for most of my life. There hasn't been a time in my life that I haven't been tested. When I was held captive, it was all of their tests to see if their little experiment was doing well or if they should just scrap it." I said, and was surprised about how calm I was about it. "Then you all took me out and even when I thought I was free, my ownership was simply transferred over to you, and the testing continued… First it was seeing how well I could handle myself in public, and even now, you still run tests, putting me through simulations and monitoring my progress." I saw a mixture of shock and anger pass before the face of the one I called my father figure before he spoke again.

"That's ridiculous! Kyber when we set you free, there was no testing at all. When we enrolled you in the school we were doing as you asked, you wanted a normal life and I've been doing my best to give it to you." He was about to continue but my next words interrupted him.

"Then were you the reason Wolf claims to like me? Did you somehow force him into this?" I spat back, I wasn't sure where this was coming from, but the questions had been present for a while now… It would explain why Wolf seemed so adamant about staying with me, if he was given orders to…Would explain why he seemed so miserable until recently.. and if Isaac had a hand in everything else..maybe..My thoughts were interrupted by Isaac speaking again.

"Kyber, Think for one moment. Even if this were an experiment, there is no possible way I can control every variable -especially one as unpredictable as emotions. I had no part in how he feels for you. And now if you'll let me continue, as for why I continue to do simulations for you and record your progress is because everyone needs to be tested, to know where they stand so they can better themselves. Take James and Fox McCloud for example, do you think they simply got where they are without improving themselves? They are always trying to make themselves better, James is a mercenary, he has to in order to keep up with the jobs he receives. There is no reason why you can't better yourself, especially when you have a very important role to play in the future."

"Then explain that role to me, and what was this about the "Project" you mentioned with that other scientist. I'm tired of being left in the dark and having to find my way by myself."

With a small sigh the professor stood up and began to walk out of the room.

"Very well then… Follow me."

**Wolf (A/N: Italic's represent Wolf's other thoughts during the following conversation, while the normal lines are his own thoughts.)**

The first thing I couldn't believe was how I wasn't blinded by the light of solar as I left the hangar. To be honest I expected to have to shield my eyes from the bright light, yet the transition from Solar's light to the artificial light seemed to hardly exist. The second thing I couldn't believe was how much I missed the warmth of Solar. The feeling sending shivers of pleasure down my spine as the light continued to hit my fur. However, despite my joy at being out in the open for the first time in a while something simply had to ruin my mood.

'_You know, it wouldn't have to be like this if you just stuck with Fox.'_ I growled to myself, the voice in my mind had continually tried to sway me, and the annoying thing was that it just wouldn't _Shut up_.

'Did you ever think I liked how things have gone?' I retorted, this simply earned a chuckle from the antagonist.

'_The great Wolf O'Donnell likes being confined? Admit it, you're miserable, you don't belong here. Being outside shouldn't be a treat, and it wouldn't if you were with Fox.'_

'I may not enjoy being stuck down there.' I admitted, 'But everyone else has had to go through the same thing I have, I don't see why you're complaining.'

'_But Wolf-' _The voice got interrupted before it could finish the argument.

'Does whatever the hell he wants!' I snapped back. 'I made the choice to stick with Kyber, I made the choice to refuse his offer, and in case you forgot I'll remind you of two things. One, Wolf O'Donnel does NOT complain, and two, Wolf O'Donnell does not back out of a decision.'

'_Unless the other option has more advantages. Even you aren't foolish enough to stay and risk your life for nothing. Kyber can't offer you anything, Fox can offer you just about whatever you wanted.' _The voice offered._ 'You'll see soon enough.'_ With a small chuckle the voice seemed to recede for the moment, Wolf was grateful for that much, and even more grateful when a silver and gold fighter opened a com channel so he wouldn't have to think on what the voice just said.

"Hey Wolf! Wanna fight? Leroi can make sure our weapons don't damage each other much, and that our fire won't leave the perimeter." A grin began to spread, even with reduced damage, the tigress didn't know what she was getting into. Pulling into a U-turn to face her he only had one thing to say before boosting the throttle.

"You're on."

**A/N: Hopefully it was enjoyable, I had slight conflicts when typing this out such as Kyber jumping to his conclusions and Wolf's argument with himself, though I do hope you all enjoyed and will review. **


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry for not updating for a while, I've had midterms and such to deal with… But I do hope you all enjoy the chapter! And I promise, I'll try to have the next one up sooner! (Reviews do help with that)**

**Chapter 9**

**Grimm**

It had been three months since I had encountered the young vulpine attending the university, and suffice to say, I was pleased with how everything was progressing. Everything was unfolding nicely and I had yet to actually place myself into the grand scheme of things. Sure, I may manipulate a player here or there but I haven't joined in yet. '_If things continue to go this smoothly I may be able to join in quite seamlessly.'_ I thought with a grin. Wordlessly I strode to another area of the house, one that would be quite important, I suppose you could call it my technical room. Walking in, I noticed the familiar figure of someone typing away at some of the various keyboards while watching various screens.

"How is everything going, Nicholas?"

"Nothing major to report, sir. They've fallen into a lull, I highly doubt that any of them even suspect they're being monitored." The figure replied back, keeping their eyes on one of the screens. "Mr. O'Donnel has been active today, it's been rather consistent for about a month now." He added.

"Is his destination also routine?" I asked, curiosity piqued about how that professor would allow something as risky as allowing someone with ties to him to roam freely.

"Generally. It's usually the same place, with maybe a stop or two along the way, ending at the same place so far." I let a low chuckle escape my throat, things were going _very_ well. I wasn't sure of the reason, perhaps to try and throw off suspicions, yet for whatever reason, being predictable would be their downfall.

"Good." I stated simply, before pausing to add in, "You know, Nicholas, it's not healthy to be kept in the dark for so long; perhaps you should turn on a light." I saw the figure of Nicholas shrug and I turned to leave. "Be sure you finish those two little projects of ours, I'm going out for a while."

"Yes sir. Don't forget." Was all he said. Mentally I spoke back, not that he would hear. _'How could I? It would be one of the best parts ever, and I'm in no mood to miss out.'_

**Isaac**

As was beginning to become almost like clockwork, whenever Wolf left, Kyber would come in asking to run a simulation. I had always obliged him, after all, it allowed him to begin improving himself. Today however was going to be a slightly different simulation than what he was used to.  
"Kyber, allow me to inform you of your mission." I spoke into the microphone as Kyber appeared onto my screen in the "mission room" as I had decided to call it. "Today we will be working on your ability to overcome certain obstacles, mainly if one or more of your teammates turn on you while you both are working together." Kyber nodded softly. "Another one of these types of assignments," he stated, not really questioning it. "Correct, and as you are well aware of, you get no special items, or weapons to assist you in the mission I am going to give you, and I will not inform you of who you will be up against. Now your mission (as usual for these scenarios) will be to-"

"I know. It's the same as always, take down the unknown man and stop what he's doing." The black lupine finished. I gave a small sigh.

"Very well, since you are rather informed, I'll let the mission begin; you will be in an abandoned section of Fichina." As I began typing the commands into the computer to begin the simulation, I had just one thought in mind. 'Please let my guess about this be wrong.'

**Kyber **

True to his word, the mission began and I immediately noticed the sharp drop in temperature from what I felt before. Looking around I noticed I was in a dimly powered base, only providing just enough light for me to see where I was going, but no other possible "luxury". The cold didn't bother me too much, I knew it was a lot warmer in here than it was outside. Making my way carefully down the first corridor I began to wonder just how the simulation was planned out. Just who would I be fighting? The answer was given after what felt like half an hour of walking, or at least so I thought. A set of double doors opened before me after walking down another corridor, revealing a spacious room, with one half cloaked in darkness and shadow. I could make out a _feline's _form among the shadows, so it seemed a bit obvious that it was either Lorelei or Leroi. The voice I heard confirmed which one it was.

"Well, Hello there Kyber. I've been expecting you." Leroi claimed, my hearing just straining to catch even the faintest noise. If there was anything I learned from facing my three friends, Leroi focused on cunning and technology to help him, so traps were to be expected. Suddenly a bolt of energy streaked past me, against my body's protests I stood still.

"Hmm, you didn't fall for it…at least, not this time." The lion said, sounding disappointed. "No matter." He continued, beginning to move while staying in the cover of darkness, while I moved about in the lit area, keeping in mind the cover, or rather lack of cover available. "I do so love the game of cat and mouse." He gave a small dark chuckle, "especially when I'm the predator." As he fired off three shots, each barely missing their target and hitting the wall behind me as I managed to get out of the way each time, a small click caught my attention looking towards the sound briefly I cursed under my breath. "Damn…a hidden pressure plate." Immediately springing from the spot I was previously in to find it showered with an array of bullets. I had to be more careful, now noticing that the light actually bathed everything in a shade of light that made everything blend together seamlessly.

"I'm impressed; that's two you've managed to evade. But how long can you keep that up?"

The deadly dance continued for a few moments more, before I found myself shrouded in the safety of darkness, blending in much better than the feline. Silently and swiftly I managed to get behind him and incapacitate him before moving on. I was surprised however, to encounter another maze of hallways.

**Isaac**

Kyber was doing surprisingly well, I noted as he had just cleared the third obstacle I had placed on his pathway to stopping his target. He had just finished taking out his third teammate whom had opposed him, but needless to say, Kyber was in for an unpleasant surprise in a few moments. I looked grimly at the screen as Kyber made his way towards the final door.

"I'm sorry..but this has to be done." I whispered softly, although it wasn't as though anyone could hear me since the mic was off. Kyber had shown time and time again with this simulation that he wouldn't let his emotions hold him back while in a fight, however that was only with Ember, Leroi and Lorelei. I'd yet to see if he would be able to do it with someone a bit _closer_ to him. As much as I didn't want to, I had to know if he could truly fight him if something happened. I input the final command into the simulation and watched silently as Kyber strode into the final room.

**Kyber**

The scene that greeted me was similar enough, everything seemed the same as it had countless times before. Walking cautiously towards the center I strained my ears to pick up on any sound, my eyes to pick up on any movement. My ears perked at the sound of a low chuckle.

"Congratulations on making it this far." The familiar voice of the unknown figure commended from the shadows. "However, I'm afraid this won't be like our usual encounters." Wait…this was new…normally it was the same dialogue…something was up… "I believe you'll be in for quite a treat." As the figure gave another chuckle. I didn't have time to question what they meant as I heard a door opened, followed by the sound of footsteps coming closer.

"As your reward for making it this far, I present you with…a..mmm.. _special_ battle."

I felt my eyes widen as I saw a silver furred lupine stride into the light, a wicked grin spread across his features.

"W-Wolf?!" my face a clear display of shock, to be honest I should have expected this but instead it was like a sucker-punch to the face.

"Wolf, I'll leave you to finish up here. Failure is not an option." The man stated before walking away, leaving the two lupines alone. I felt my body twitch, going into an automatic defensive stance as Wolf cracked his knuckles. As he strode forward I took a step back, my mind a maelstrom of noise as I attempted to reason with my instincts that screamed to be on the defensive.

"You don't have to do this Wolf!" I shouted, finding myself with my back to a desk, his grin simply grew before he spoke in a somewhat chiding voice.

"But where's the fun if you don't fight back? I always like a little fight in my prey." With that he lunged, going for a cross slash with both hands. In seconds I reacted, ducking under and rolling to the side, landing on my feet. In that moment I decided to play the defensive role, striking to detain, yet not maim, meanwhile trying to snap him out of it, thinking there had to be a way to avoid the fight that was inevitable.

**A/N: I think I'll leave that there for now ^.^, I hope you all enjoyed reading the newest chapter. Also I would like to say, Nicholas does not belong to me; he belongs to Atrox M, who was kind enough to allow me to use him in the story. Until next time!**


End file.
